Air Force approves Afghanistan, Iraqi campaign medals

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RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  Air Force officials have authorized Airmen to wear the Afghanistan Campaign Medal and the Iraqi Campaign Medal.

The Department of Defense campaign medals apply to active-duty Airmen, reservists and guardsmen deployed on or after Oct. 24, 2001, for Operation Enduring Freedom and March 19, 2003, for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Airmen must have been assigned, attached or mobilized to units operating in Afghanistan or Iraq for 30 consecutive days or 60 nonconsecutive days to be eligible. The ACM is awarded for service for all land areas within and all airspaces above Afghanistan. The ICM is for service covering all land areas within Iraq, all adjoining water areas out to 12 nautical miles and all airspaces above those areas.

Airmen are not entitled to more than one campaign and/or expeditionary medal for the same action, achievement or period of service. There are also no devices for either campaign medals or the Global War on Terrorism-Expeditionary Medal.

A period of service is defined as an area of deployment and includes the number of days criteria outlined above. Airmen begin a second period of service when they forward deploy or return to home station and then deploy later.

Airmen deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq, who have 30 consecutive or 60 nonconsecutive days between the eligibility period and April 30, may elect to wear either the appropriate campaign medal or the GWOT-E medal, but not both.

Those who deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq, who have 30 consecutive or 60 nonconsecutive days after April 30 can only earn the respective campaign medal for the area they served in.

Air Force Personnel Center officials here will do a mass system update in August to convert GWOT-E medals to campaign medals for Airmen who are eligible. Airmen who do not want the GWOT-E medal converted need to notify their commander's support staff or military personnel flight, officials said.

The campaign medal for Afghanistan shall be positioned below the one for Kosovo and above the medal for Iraq.

For more information, Airmen can contact their local military personnel flight. (Courtesy of AFPC News Service)